Zack Mohs' mom, Cheryl Young, in the living room of Zack's new home, which is under construction, in South St Paul, on Thursday morning, Feb. 27, 2014. The house is being built by the charitable arm of the Builders Assoc of the Twin Cities. Zack is a South St. Paul man who was run over and dragged in an Alaskan hit-and-run accident. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

The new, under construction home of Zack Mohs in South St Paul is photographed on Thursday morning, Feb. 27, 2014. The house is being built by the charitable arm of the Builders Assoc of the Twin Cities. Mohs was run over and dragged in an Alaskan hit-and-run accident. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Cheryl Young gives a kiss as she says goodbye to her son, Zack Mohs, after his physical therapy session at the Courage Center in Golden Valley Friday morning May 10, 2013. Zack is a South St. Paul man who was run over and dragged in an Alaskan hit-and-run accident. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Cheryl Young was unemployed, broke and desperate when she met in the fall with the board of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation to share her son’s story of physical and emotional pain, courage and strength.

She told them how her son, Zack Mohs, was nearly killed after being run over and dragged by a hit-and-run driver while trying to cross an intersection in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sept. 20, 2012.

She spoke of the 28-year-old’s daily struggles in outpatient physical and occupational therapy at Courage Center Golden Valley. And of how she was unable to afford finishing work on a new handicapped-accessible house for him in South St. Paul, where both she and Mohs grew up.

Finally, she asked for their help. They agreed.

Now, work on a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom home is nearly complete, thanks to more than 20 of the foundation’s member businesses that donated materials and labor at a reduced cost or free of charge.

When Mohs moves from his group home and into the house early next month, it will mark the beginning of his new life and an end to his mother’s yearlong determination to make it happen.

“This is the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen,” Young said last week during a visit there, one of many she has made the past few months. “Zack begs me all the time to send him pictures of the progress.”

Perri Graham, the foundation’s executive director, said it was clear after the meeting with Young that help would be sent her way.

“I think what really won us over was her character, her strong belief in her son and his ability to overcome this,” she said. “She’s been a tireless advocate for Zack.”

The admiration is mutual. Young calls the foundation and its member businesses her “heroes … with hearts of gold.”

“They’ve been so giving … and they don’t even know my child,” she said, fighting back tears. “It’s overwhelming.”

Young has been by her son’s side nearly every day since the accident, which left him with a traumatic brain injury, fractured vertebrae, an amputated leg and broken bones. He was in a coma for 30 days.

Young, who quit her accounting job to be with her son, recalled how she vowed early in his recovery that she would do everything in her power to make sure he would some day have a home of his own.

“After all that has happened to him, he deserves to have as much of an independent life as possible,” she said.

Even before Mohs was flown to Minnesota for physical and occupational therapy in January 2013, friends and family rallied and organized events in both Anchorage and South St. Paul. More than $40,000 was raised.

Young used some of that money last spring to buy a lot for $26,000 from the South St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

A homebuilder she knew personally offered to oversee construction of a house for Mohs at no charge, while an architect drew up the plans free.

Young said she had nowhere to turn except to the continued generosity of friends and strangers. She set up a GoFundMe Web page, which raised more than $11,000. Another $10,000 was generated through a fundraising arrangement with Heggies Pizza.

She contacted the Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation after reading about how its member builders and remodelers made Jack Jablonski’s Minneapolis home wheelchair-accessible after the high school hockey player was paralyzed in a game in 2012.

At the time, Young had already put about $100,000 into her son’s home by using money that had been raised or that she had borrowed.

Then, in August, Young was handed a health crisis of her own: She was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery to remove a kidney.

“I thought I had a stomach ulcer from all the worrying,” said Young, 50. “But it was Stage One, so they got it out right away.”

After recovering, Young got back to “bugging” the foundation for an answer on whether they would help. In hindsight, she said, it didn’t hurt that another person she had been persistently calling — the executive director of Rebuilding Together — serves on the foundation’s board.

“I just kept calling. I just knew they were going to help me,” Young said of the foundation. “I think they got to the point where they thought, ‘She’s never going to leave us alone.’ ”

In fact, Graham said, there was a bit of a hold-up to commit to help because Young’s first builder was not a member of the association — a requirement for the foundation’s projects.

The cause got rolling along again when Young was put in touch with Jon Anderson, owner of JK Builders and a member of the builders association. He offered to donate his time and work at a reduced cost.

“I’ve never done anything like this for anyone before,” said Anderson, of Woodbury. “But I felt it was an important thing, so I got involved. Of course, I’m not the only one helping out — there are lots and lots of guys.”

Graham said board members were impressed by Young’s determination to get the home partially built on her own.

“Despite all that she had gone through, she had gone out and beat the bushes by herself,” she said.

The project is one of the largest to date for the foundation, she said. It has committed to matching up to $60,000 that is raised from the public this month through Barn Raisings, a crowd-funding website for nonprofit projects.

The house, at 408 12th Ave. N., will be open for viewing from noon to 6 p.m. March 29-30 as part of the builders association’s Spring Parade of Homes. Admission to Mohs’ house will be free.

The mother and son will receive an added bonus that weekend, Young said. Ken Krasselt, a World War II veteran who helped save Mohs’ life after the hit-and-run accident, is planning to fly in from Anchorage for the ribbon-cutting.

“To me, this is our mansion, our dream home,” she said. “It’s all I could ever dream for … because it means my son can come home.”

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